recipient

Caren

grants began

2018

about Caren

Caren is a human rights defender and is the founder and chairperson of the Nyabende Human Rights Coalition. She lives on a small property in a village in regional Kisumu county near Lake Victoria.

Caren often travels around the large and rural county, rescuing women and children from family violence and sexual assault, as well as reporting perpetrators to the police, giving evidence in court proceedings and hosting children who are not able to stay at home until alternative accommodations can be organised. Caren’s work is travel-heavy and unpaid, she is often seen on the back of a boda-boda (motorcycle) on dirt roads of Kisumu, on her way to help a family in need.

During the pandemic Caren had to curtail her travel— in part because she and another member of her household are both HIV positive. There were also significant floods in Kisumu which made travel very difficult and dangerous. During that time, she turned her attention to the promotion of self-sufficiency in homes around Kisumu county.

1.

Pivoting to self-sufficiency and direct assistance during Covid-19, Pambanisha has helped to fund Caren purchasing chickens to distribute to local families herself and through the Nyabende coalition.